Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Wednesday, the 30th September 2015, filed a petition in the Himachal Pradesh high court challenging the jurisdiction of the CBI in filing a disproportionate assets case under Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against him and his wife and sought quashing of the first information report (FIR). [Also see; CBI raids Himachal CM’s residences in disproportionate assets case.]
In his petition, which would be heard by a division bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Sureshwar Singh Thakur on Thursday, Virbhadra Singh pleaded that the inquiry against him and his wife falls under income tax, and the matter was already under probe by the income tax department and consideration of the high court.
He said he was the chief minister of the state and as such, it was imperative for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to seek permission of the government for filing a criminal case and without sanction of prosecution, raids by it at his residences or other places could not be conducted.
The petitioner pleaded that the preliminary inquiry in the matter and the FIR registered on its basis suffered from legal infirmities and was against section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act and it should be quashed.
Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, is reproduced below:
“6. Consent of State Government to exercise of powers and jurisdiction.—Nothing contained in Section 5 shall be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in any area in a State, not being a Union Territory or railway area, without the consent of the Government of that State.”
Thus, it is necessary under Section 6 of the DSPE Act to first obtain consent of the State before the Delhi Special Police Establishment (which means, the CBI) takes up a case for investigation. However, such consent can be given in the form of “general consent” for a class or category of cases, and where such “general consent” is given there may not be a need to take special consent in an individual case. It is not known whether such a general consent has been given to the CBI for such types of cases in Himachal Pradesh which would cover the said case of disproportionate assets against the Himachal CM.
Also see: Known sources of Income under Prevention of Corruption Act.
